Winterberg World Cup - 2011

The next location was Winterberg, Germany. It was an 8 hour drive (we made it in about 6 actually, thank you autobahn!) from Igls, Austria.

The drive was interesting - we got pulled over. My first time being pulled over in Europe!


The officers were very nice, just concerned about our caravan of 3 Range Rovers.


Apparently there are a lot of thefts in the region that our license plates read. They checked our passports, wished us good luck (even wished us the win!) and sent us on our way. Nicest pulling-over experience I've ever had...

We also got fuel for the car. I noticed how considerate the gas stations are - they provided gloves for pumping!


We always make jokes that "Winterberg" should be called "Wasserberg" (water town) or "Regenberg" (rain town) since it nearly always rains there. Remember our canceled race last year?

But the weather was actually nice!


Tried to take a picture of Annie with the pretty sunrise, but it didn't work very well. Either she wasn't in it, or the sunrise disappeared like this:


We got a trackwalk in. You can always find me by the yellow shoes and purple pants.


Kreisel (a 280 or 360 degree turn):


I'd like to come to Winterberg in the summer actually - they have a TON of fun looking bike courses and obstacles / stunts / berms.




The first day, we thought we were sliding at 9am but it turned out that we were in the 11am group, so we stayed and watched the first group slide.


The Russian team got new speedsuits, and they were too small. We teased them at first...


But then....race day came....and....


Yes, that's me in a new Team Russia speedsuit! Long story...

Not only did I get a new speedsuit, but I also bought a new helmet. The old:


The new:


Side by side:


I felt all new and improved, especially since my old speedsuit was, um, a little see-through.


All improvements and upgrades aside, the Winterberg track itself, however, is probably my least favorite track. It's so subtle, and while it's super easy to make it down in one piece, it's extremely difficult to find speed. The first several curves actually go uphill! This means that you cannot make any tiny mistakes (even more than the similar Calgary or Igls tracks) or you just have no speed. I had one of the faster pushes at the start, but then was 5 tenths slower coming out of the 5th curve! Shaking my head.

Annie and I got ready for a day of racing.


And spread out a bit...


The race itself, well, it was ok. I had two new personal best times, but finished in 19th place. Since my training runs were even worse throughout the week, I've never been happier just to qualify for a second run! Phew.

Then it was off to other things...